Michaelis 2001/144
My Principles and a Conflict : http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/michaelis/title144.pdf # }|1|Looking at the list of the Ten Commandments I could find only two which I have been tempted to break. I have never killed anyone, nor have I borne false witness and I have remembered the sabbath day, except when urgent work demanded otherwise, which I admit occurred frequently while working for the Daily Telegraph. For the Monday morning newspaper, all journalists have to work on a Sunday, although then Saturday is a free day instead.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_1}} # }|2|When however I was also required to file for the Sunday Telegraph during an Apollo Moon flight, I had a seven-day working week, as I have again now, writing this book.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_2}} # }|3|The two commandments I have been tempted to break were 'You shall not commit adultery' and 'You shall not steal'. There may have been a few occasions when I was sorely tempted to sleep with a married woman, but I have never done so. I had suffered too much by my wife's desertion for another man. So I decided never to inflict the same unhappiness on anyone else. Nor have I ever had an affair with another woman while my own marriage lasted.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_3}} # }|4|Every collector must have been tempted to steal a desirable item, if he could not afford to pay for it. I have been tempted, but have never stolen anything. I have often coveted an antique scientific instrument, a book, a scientific medal or a scientific banknote, but never acquired any item illegally without paying.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_4}} # }|5|The conflict of my principles arose at quite a different level. I knew when I joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph, well-known for its strong conservative political attitude, that it might lead to differences of opinion as I am of a liberal and progressive persuasion. This never arose, at least not openly. My articles were factual and never had a direct political content.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_5}} # }|6|I can only recollect one instance when I challenged the Editor about one of my contributions which had not been printed. During a visit to the French rocket launch station in Kourou, I had the chance of seeing the nearby French penal colony on Devil's Island. I made a rather grim pen-and-ink drawing of the punishment cells to accompany a brief article, which I thought might be interesting during the time when the French novel Papillon was much in vogue. When I asked the Editor why it was not published he replied: "Do you think that the readers of the Daily Telegraph would like to be shocked at their breakfast table?" I was rather proud of my sketch! Title 228 I have here, at last, published my contentious article and sketch.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_6}} # }|7|The conflict that did arise and led to my leaving the newspaper was about the desire of the then News Editor, a certain Mr Eastwood, for me to write only about 'bad science' and 'anti-science' events. This I was not prepared to do.Michaelis 2001/144#Michaelis 2001/144_7 }}